The Real Deal New York

Barnes & Noble is done with Queens

Bookseller is leaving its last two locations in the borough

August 28, 2015 09:36AM

Turn the page and close the book, Barnes and Noble’s story in Queens is over, for now anyway.

The book store chain announced it would leave its location at 23-80 Bell Boulevard in Bayside, its last location in Queens. The move follows another exit by the company, announced Wednesday, from its store 70-00 Austin Street in Forest Hills.

The 25,000-square-foot Bell Boulevard site, owned by Muss Development, will welcome a HomeGoods location, and the 20,000-square-foot location on Austin Street, owned by Muss Development, will become home to a new Target, the New York Daily News reported.

Peter Ripca of Ripco represented HomeGoods in the Bayside deal.

HomeGoods was willing to pay rents “rents far in excess of what we were willing to pay” for the Bayside space, David Deason, a vice president at Barnes & Noble, said in an emailed statement to Crain’s.

But the end may be not yet.

“The Queens community is extremely important to us, and as a result we are aggressively looking at new locations and expect to have a new store there in the future,” said Deason. [NYDN] – Ariel Stulberg